South Korea logged a trade surplus of $44 billion last year. This also marked the fifth consecutive year that the country's trade surplus has topped $25 billion since 2009, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service.

Strong exports played a key role in driving the trade surplus.

Exports hit a record high of $559.6 billion last year, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier. Imports inched down 0.8 percent on-year to $515.6 billion, the data showed.